Bottle capping machine



Feb. 2, 1954 v ENQCK 2,667,998

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE Filed April 2, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 2, 1954 v A. 1G. ENOCK 2,667,998

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE Filed April 2, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 2, 1954 A. s. ENOCK 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 a4 19 .55 '56 25 g 16 50 34 29 53 '5] w 1 49 2M5; I 45 1 25 Z 3 14 I57 Feb. 2, 1954 Noc 2,667,998

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE Filed April 2, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Feb. 2, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE Arthur Graham Enock, Lc'ndnn, England, assignor to Graham-Enoch Manufacturing Company Limited, London, England Application April 2, 1951, Serial No. 218,727

Claims priority, application Great Britain April 3, 1950 15 clams.

This invention relates to bottle filling and capping machine such as milk bottling machines wherein a cap making unit is provided by which aluminum or other ioil .caps are punched out of a strip of aluminum or other foil and delivered to a cap release mechanism from which they are picked up by the travelling bottles as theypass to the capping unit. A bottling machine of this type is described in the specification of my prior application Ser. No. 51,778, new Patent No. 2,597,791, issued May 20, 19,52. 7 An object of the present invention is to provide an improved arrangement of the cap forming unit whereby a simplified form of drive is provided and the unit is mounted in a position facilitating access to the cap delivery and foil feeding and loading.

According to the invention the cap forming unit is mounted above the capping head and is operated by a rotary element thereof.

The cap forming unit may be supported by the stationary central element of the capping unit such element supporting the head and being adjustable as to height for accommodatingdifferent sizes of bottles.

A drive to the operative parts of the cap forming unit may be effected by a gear wheel secured to the rotary head of the capping unit and engaging a pinion or a driving shaft on the cap forming unit.

' The driving shaft is adapted to drive a driven shaft through a clutch mean which are intermittently put in only when a bottle is in capping position.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan of a bottle filling and capping machine with the improved cap forming unit applied thereto.

Figure 2 is an elevation, partly in section, on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an elevation, partly in section, .on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an elevation, partly in section, on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a section elevation of a sealing head.

Figure 6 is a sectional elevation of a preferred form of cap forming unit.

:Figure 7 is asectional elevation (at right angles to Figure 6) of the punch and cap operated act-uator.

In carrying the invention into effect according to one convenient mode as applied .to a capping unit of the character described in the specification er. No, 51,178, new Patent No. 2,597,791,

the upper rotary sleeve I of the capping head 2 is extended upwardly and formed with a cup part 3 open at its upper end and coaxial with the head. Secured to the base wall 4 of the cup 3 is a ring 5 which encloses an upper ball bearing v6. The ring 5 is rebated at the upper edge to receive a gear wheel 1 which is secured with the ring to the base 4 by screws 8.'

The stationary central column or spindle 8a of the capping head projects beyond the bearing Band has keyed to it by .a key .9, a supporting plate Ii) which is secured to the spindle by a central fixing plate i I. Y

The plate l supports the cap forming unit 12 the mounting 13 of which has a base plate M which is recessed to receive an upwardly pro- 'ecting spigot I on the plate It so that the cap forming unit may be turned about the axis of the column 8a when required. The base plate has .an aperture to receive the fixing plate Ii. The cap forming mounting and gear unit is held onto the supporting plate -I 0 by a shouldered stud it which is cutaway so that the narrow portion i within the-width of the slot to allow removal of the gear unit.

The cap forming unit 12 has a downwardly extending bell shaped portion IS, the lower wall IQ of which is cylindrical and is located outside the cup part 3 forming therewith an enclosing casing for the operative gear of the cap forming unit. 1

The operative gear is carried by the mounting [3 which at its upper part supports a reciproeating die unit for cutting out the caps from a strip of aluminum 2!. The die unit 20 extends above and below the bell l8 and in the lower part a plunger 22 is guided which is operated by a rotary cam 23 which engages a roller 24 on the plunger.

The cam'23 is vfixed on a horizontal shaft 25 having bearings 26 in the mounting I3. The shaft 25 is driven by bevel gear 21 from a vertical stub shaft 28, supported in the bearing 29 on the mounting i3. The stub shaft is adapted torbe driven by a driving pin 30 supported in bearing 3| on mounting I3 and axially in line with the stub shaft.

Extending downwardly and axially through the stub shaft 28 is an axially displaceable driving pin 33 which is keyed to a sleeve 30 by a sliding key means. 7

The driving pin 33 at itslower-end is keyed or pinned to a pinion 32 meshing with the gear wheel 1. The stub" shaft 2-8 is provided with a clutch member 34 which is conveniently formed-in one 3 with the bevel gear 27a. (Do-operating with this clutch member is a clutch element 35 which is pinned to the driving pin 33. The clutch element 35 is adapted to engage with the clutch member 34 by a vertical displacement of the pin 33 which is efiected by a rising movement of a sealing head 33 by the presence of a bottle 31 in position on the appropriate platform 38. The sealing head 36 is mounted for limited vertical sliding movement in a plate 15 supported on the rotary capping head 2. Thus there will be no drive of the cam when a bottle is not in position.

The sealing head 36 in its rising movement in the bearing 39 pivots a lever l which in turn by its engagement with the lower end of a thrust pin 41 mounted for sliding movement infthe bearing 42, lifts the thrust pin 4|.

The thrust pins 4! are adjustable for length.

A plurality of the displaceable thrust pins 4! is provided according to the number of sealing heads 36 and the upper ends of these pins are adapted to engage a fiat ring 43, the upper surface of which is engaged by the lower end of the pin 33.

It will be appreciated that the thrust pins 4-! rotate with the capping head while the pin 33 remains stationary with the cap forming unit and thus the ring .3 forms an operative connection between the pin 33 and each thrust pin 4| in turn.

The ring 43 is pivotally mounted at one point 44 with a downward radial extension 45 of the ring while at the diametrically opposite point the ring 43 is guided by guiding screw 48 in another downward radial extension 41 of the ring 5.

On the end of the cam spindle opposite to the bevel gear 27 a crank arm 48 is mounted having a crank pin 49 which is coupled by a link 50 to a pivoted pawl arm or plate 5! the pawl 52 of which engages a ratchet wheel 53 on a shaft 54 which carriesa sprocket wheel 55, the chain 56 of which engages a pair of sprocket wheels 51, 58, secured on stub shafts 59, 60 mounted on the mounting I3. Each stub shaft 59 and 63 has secured thereto a gear 62, 63 respectively.

- The chain 56 also engages a guide sprocket wheel BI freely mounted on the spindle 25.

The gear 62 meshes with an idle gear 64 which in turn meshes with a gear 65 secured on a spindle 66 which also carries a foil feed roll 51. The spindle 66 and that of the idle gear 64 are supported in bearings in hell !8 or an extension 68 thereof. Clo-operating with the feed roll 61 is a spring biassed pressure roll 69.

On the opposite side of the bell l8 a second feed drum is provided which drives the scrap strip Zia after the strip 2| has passed through the punching and forming die unit 29. This second feed drum 70 with which a pressure roll ll co-operates is driven by a gear 12 from the idle gears I3, 74, from the gear 63 on the stub shaft 60.

The gears 72, 13 and 14 and feed roll 10 and pressure roll H are supported by the extension 75 of the hell [8.

By this arrangement of drives for the foil and scrap feed rolls 61, 70, the bell [8 with the gears carried thereby may be readily removed when necessary without affecting the chain and sprocket drive.

Foil strip 2| is drawn from a reel 76 by way of a tensioning guide roll 11, such reel being mounted in a bracket 18 secured to the bell l8.

The scrap strip 2|a extends backwardly over the upper part of the die unit 26 to a rewind 4 wheel 73 on the bracket 78 and driven by a belt 80 from a pulley 6| on the spindle of the feed drum 61.

Adjacent the drive for the scrap strip a cap chute 81a is supported by the bell l8 and extends downwardly more or less vertically and at its lower end supports cap release means 82 whereby the lowest cap 83 will be located in the path of the bottles so that caps 83 will be picked up as they travel past said means.

At the upper end the chute am is flared to receive the caps as they separate from the scrap strip.

The cap forming unit i2 is capable of rotary movement relatively to the supporting column 3a so that it may be swung to a position for convenient access to the cap delivery chute and the foil feed and loading.

For this purpose the bell l8 has secured to it an arcuate ledge 84 which has an undercut groove 85 to receive the heads of bolts 86 which extend through apertures in a plate 8! so that tightening of the nuts 83 grips the plate and ledge.

The plate 8! is perforated to engage a steadying post 89 secured to the base 93 of the machine. The post may be graduated for various heights of bottles so that the raising or lowering of the capper head 2 to the desired position may be readily determined by the position of the plate 87 relatively to the graduations.

The invention is shown in association with a bottling and capping machine as described in my patent specification Ser. No. 51,778, now Patent No. 2,597,791, comprising a conveyor 9! which delivers the empty bottles to a transfer wheel 92 by which the bottles are fed to a vacuum filling unit 93, which is connected to the vacuum producing means 94. The filled bottles are transferred by transfer wheel 95 to the platforms 38 of the capping unit 2 and after receiving a cap and being sealed are transferred by transfer wheel 96 to the conveyor 9|. The platforms 38 are raised to engage the bottle with the caps in position with the sealing heads 36 by the engagement of rollers 97 in the platform posts 98 with a cam element 99 which is pivotally anchored to the mountings for the transfer wheels 95 and 96. The free end 80 of the cam element is bifurcated and bears upon the shoulder 0| of a resilient supporting post N32.

The various units are supported on the base and driven by operative mechanism located beneath the base.

In operation, as the capper head 2 rotates the gear wheel I secured thereto drives the pinion 32 and the driving pin 33.

As a bottle with a cap in position thereon rises in the capping position it lifts the sealing head 33 and causes a lifting of the thrust pin 41 which thereby raises the driving pin 33 to clutch the driving pin to the bevel gear 270. and thus rotates the cam shaft 25.

Through the crank arm 48, link 53 and plate 5! a driving stroke is imparted to the pawl 52 whereby a feeding movement is imparted to the foil feeding roll 67 and the take-up roll 'fll for the scrap. During the following stationary period, i. e. the reverse non-driving stroke of the pawl 52 the cam 23 operates to actuate the cap punching and forming dies of the unit 2 ll.

Thus the feeding of the foil strip 2!, the takeup of the scrap 21a and the operation of the die unit 20 are intermittent and only take place when a bottle is located in the capping position. 7

In order that the foil feed and die unit may be accuses turned over or manually operated when no bottles are being delivered to the capping head, the clutch between 34 and 35 may be held in by raising the driving pin 33 and holding it in its upper position by the spring catch I03 and bell crank lever Ifld which engages a cross piece Iil5a on the driving pin 33.

In the preferred form of the capforming or die unit (see Figures 6 and 7) an upper die, cap forming and embossing assembly i It is mounted in the head III and projects into a throat H2 in the head, through which the metal strip travels, Beneath the assembly I It a punch assembly I I3 is mounted in the head II I, in axial alignment withthe assembly H 8. a

The punch assembly 113 comprises an inne embossing presser element I It slidable within an annular punch or die H5. The die element is mounted to slide within a bushing II S seated in the head III.

At the lower end of the punch l I5 a washer I i1 is secured which is provided with a diametral slot I18. Centrally arranged in this washer element is a punch actuator II9 which is adapted to engage the cam 23. Actuator I I9 is provided with a threaded screw whereby it may be bolted to the washer element by the nut I28, washers I21 being provided on either side of the fasher H I to bridge the slot I I 8 therein.

The embossing element II4 at its lower end provided with a pair of diametrically disposed extensions I22 which extend through the slot I It in the washer II! and, in the down position, as shown in Figure '6, seat upon a stop bracket element I23 which is secured to the headIII by screws I24. The stop bracket is provided with an aperture I25 through which the actuator II9 projects.

The embosser element -I I4. intermediate its ends is split by slots I 26 to provide a resilience whereby it is frictionally gripped within the die element I I5.

The washer I I! engages spring biassed returning elements I2! mounted in the head I I I Whereby the actuator isheld in engagement with the cam 23.

In the upper assembly III) an inner embossing die I28 is rigidly carried by a stem I29 which extends through a sleeve I30. Concentric with the sleeve I39 is a cap forming element I3I, the lower end of which is outwardly radiussed for turning over the rim of the cap. At its lower end the former I3I is enclosed within a die ring I32 which is adapted to co-operate with the die member II5, resiliently to grip a cut out disc. ring I32 has a slightly tapered aperture so that it only engages the forming element I3I at the lower end thereof for a purpose to be hereinafter referred to.

The die ring, at its upper end, is outwardly flanged at I33 to seat upon a shoulder I34 in the annular cutting die element I35. The flange is pressed on to this shoulder by a spring I36.

The former element I3I at its upper end is provided with an outwardly extending flange I3! which seats upon a shoulder I38 formed in a guide ring I39 which is seated within the die element.

The former is provided with an inwardly directed shoulder I40 upon which a washer MI seats, the washer being spring pressed by spring I42, the upper end of which engages a cap I43.

The upper assembly III] is removable from the head III so that the embossing die I28 may be replaced by another die according to the lettering The die 6 to be impressed in the bottle cap. For this purpose the assembly is held in position by aclamp arm I44 which is mounted upon a sleeve I45 slidabl within a recess I46 in the head. The-sleeve surrounds a bolt I41 whereby the clamp may be forced down on to the assembly by the nutMB.

The clamp arm has a leather washer I49 adapted to engage a protuberance on the nut 58 which holds the embossing die in position. The clamp arm forms a guide for the scrap strip of foil.

In operation, when the cam 23 rotates it raises the actuator H5 and moves the embosser element II 4 and punch die I I5 together until the strip of foil is gripped between the punch die element H5 and the die ring I32. At-this time a leather washer I63 in the element I I4 presses the strip of foil against the embossing die "I28 and the element I I4 is then held against further movement. The punch die II5 continues to rise so that the die ring is lifted-and a disc is out out of the strip by the engagement of the outer edge of the punch die II5 with the inner edge of the cutting die I35. The punch die and the die ring continue to rise while resiliently gripping the punched out disc which by its engagement with the outer rounded edge of the former I3I, has its rim formed to the desired shape.

0n the return movement of the parts the die ring I32 acting as a stripper element removes the formed cap from the former I3I so that it rests upon the washer element I 60. The parts I I4 and H5 then are lowered together under the action of the spring plungers I21 until the extensions I22 at the lower end of H4 engage the stop bracket I23 so that relative movement again occurs between H4 and H5 to bring their .upper edges into alignment at which time the actuator I I9 will be riding on the lower part of the cam '23.

I claim:

'1. in combination a bottle capping unit and a cap forming assembly, said capping unit including a stationary spindle and a rotary member surrounding the spindle and concentric therewith, said cap forming assembly including a mounting for a foil feed means and a die means, said mounting being located above said stationary spindle and secured thereto and supported solely thereby, and transmission means between the rotary member and the foil feed means and die means, whereby the cap forming assembly is driven from the capping unit.

2. In combination a bottle capping unit and a cap forming assembly, said capping unit com-.

prising a vertical stationary spindle, a rotary member coaxial with and surrounding said spindle, a series of sealing heads carried by said rotary member, bottle supporting means carried by said rotary member, means for raising said bottle supporting means relatively to said heads, a gear wheel coaxial with said spindle secured upon said rotary member, said cap forming assembly comprising a mounting, foil feed means carried by said mounting, die means for forming caps from a strip of foil fed by said feeding means, driving means carried by said mounting for driving the die means and foil feeding means, said mounting being located above and secured to said stationary spindle, said driving means including a gear pinion meshing with said gear wheel, and clutch means between the driving means and the foil feed and die means, said clutch means being actuated to provide a drive to the capping assembly by a vertical displacement of a capping head when in the capping position.

3. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein the driving means for the cap forming assembly includes a cam shaft, a cam on said shaft for actuating said die means, crank means on said shaft, a pawl and ratchet means driven by said crank means for imparting an intermittent drive to said foil feeding means, said cam imparting a cutting stroke during a return stroke of the pawl.

4. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein said driving means comprises a cam shaft driven through said clutch means, said clutch means being normally open, an actuating element for closing the clutch, said actuating element being operated only when a bottle is present in the capping position.

5. The combination as claimed in claim 4, wherein the cam shaft is driven by bevel gears, one of said gears being secured to a clutch element, the other clutch element being secured to said actuating element comprising a vertically disposed spindle keyed to said gear pinion, said spindle being supported at its lower end on a pivotally mounted plate, said plate being moved to an operative position, when a bottle is present in the capping position.

6. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein the foil feeding means comprises feeding rolls for drawing the foil from a supply and feeding rolls for the scrap strip, said feeding rolls being driven from a common sprocket and chain gear, intermittently actuated from a cam shaft.

7. The combination as claimed in claim 6, wherein said feed rolls are carried by a bell mounting and are driven by gear trains including idle gears from said sprocket and chain gear, whereby the bell mounting and the gears car ried thereby may be removed by unmeshing the gear trains at the idle gears.

8. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein the cap forming assembly is mounted for rotation relatively to said stationary spindle, index means being provided for holding said unit in its positions of rest relatively to said spindle.

9. The combination as claimed in claim 8, wherein the indexing means comprises an arcuate surface operatively associated with the cap forming assembly, a relatively stationary plate cooperating with said surface and means for looking the plate and surface together.

10. The combination as claimed in claim 9, wherein a stationary steadying post is provided, said plate having an aperture engaging said post whereby the plate may be moved axially of the post in accordance with vertical adjustment of the capping heads.

11. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein a cap chute is removably mounted on the cap forming assembly to receive formed caps,

said chute extending downwardly in a substantial vertical direction to a position for delivery of a cap to a bottle.

12. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein the cap forming die means comprises an upper assembly including a stationary die member, and a lower reciprocating punch actuated by rotary cam means.

13. The combination as claimed in claim 12, wherein the upper assembly includes an embossing die, a spring biassed former, and a spring biassed die ring and stripper ring located between said die and former.

14. The combination as claimed in claim 13, wherein said upper assembly is removable as a unit from mounting means and is held in operative position in said mounting by manually operable clamping means.

15. The combination as claimed in claim 2, wherein the cap forming die means comprises an upper assembly including a stationary die means and an embossing die, and a lower reciprocating punch actuated by rotary cam means, a complementary embossing element being slidably mounted in the punch under frictional control means.

ARTHUR GRAHAM ENOCK.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,047,911 Tevander July 14, 1936 2,096,346 Sharp et a1. Oct, 19, 193? 2,196,209 Gluntz Apr. 9, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 49,069 Netherlands Mar. 15, 1940 

